Ch 17: Blood Flashcards
What is the blood comprised of?
- Plasma
- WBC
- RBC
- Platelets
What are the 3 layers of spun blood?
- Plasma
- RBC
- WBC
How much of the blood is plasma?
55%
How much of the blood are erythrocytes?
45%
How much of the blood are the buffy coat?
less than 1%
What is hematocrit?
Percent of blood volume that is RBCs
Describe the physical characteristics of blood
Sticky, opaque with metallic taste
How does the color of blood vary in the presence of O2?
High O2: scarlet
Low O2: dark red
What is the normal pH of blood?
7.35-7.45
How much does blood take up body weight?
8%
What is the standard volume of blood in males and females?
Males: 5-6L
Females: 4-5L
How much water is in blood plasma?
90%
What are the components of plasma?
- Dissolved solutes
- 60% albumin
- 36% globulins
- 4% fibrinogen
Where is plasma produced?
Liver
What are the functions of albumin?
- Substance carrier
- Blood buffer
- Major contributor of plasma osmotic pressure
Why are WBCs the only complete cell of the blood?
RBCs have no nuclei or organelles, and platelets are cell fragments
Describe the distribution functions of the blood?
- Delivering O2 and nutrients to body cells
- Transporting metabolic wastes to lungs and kidneys for elimination
- Transporting hormones from endocrine organs to target organs
Describe the regulation functions of the blood?
- Maintaining body temperature by absorbing and distributing heat
- Maintaining normal pH using buffers; alkaline reserve of bicarbonate ions
- Maintaining adequate fluid volume in circulatory system
Describe the protection functions of the blood?
- Preventing blood loss: platelets and clotting
2. Preventing infection: antibodies, WBCs
Describe the structure of erythrocytes
- Biconcave discs
- Anucleate
- No organelles
- Filled with Hb
- Contain plasma membrane protein spectrin
Describe the structure of erythrocytes that contribute to gas transport
- Biconcave shape give huge suface area relative to volume
- > 97% Hb
- No mitochondria or ATP production anaerobic so it doesn’t consume O2
What is the major contributing to blood viscosity?
RBCs
What is the function of RBCs?
- RBCs dedicated to respiratory gas transport
2. Hb binds reversibly with O2
Describe the components of Hemoglobin
- Globin: 2 alpha and 2 beta polypeptide chains
- Heme pigment bond to globin
- Heme iron center binds to 1 O2
How many Hb molecules are in a single RBC?
250 million
How many O2 molecules are transported by a single Hb?
4
What occurs during O2 loading?
Production of oxyhemoblobin
Where does O2 loading occur?
Lungs
What occurs during O2 unloading?
Production of deoxyhemoglobin or reducing Hb
Where does O2 unloading occur?
Tissues
What occurs during CO2 loading?
Formation of carbaminohemoglobin
Where doe CO2 loading occur?
Tissues
What is hematopoeisis?
Blood cell formation in red bone marrow
What is the purpose for hematopoietic stem cells?
- Give rise to all formed elements
- Hormones and growth factors push cell toward specific pathway of blood cell development
- Committed cells cannot change
What occurs when there are too many RBCs?
Hypoxia
What occurs when there are too few RBCs?
Hypoxia
What dictates RBS production and destruction?
- Hormonal controls
2. Adequate supplies of Fe, amino acids, and Vitamin B
What controls the production of RBC hormonally?
EPO
Where is is EPO released from?
Released by kidneys in response to hypoxia
What hormone can enhance EPO production?
Testosterone causing higher RBC counts
What are the 3 factors that cause hypoxia?
- Decreased RBC numbers due to hemorrhage or increased destruction
- Insufficient hemoglobin per RBC (e.g., iron deficiency)
- Reduced availability of O2 (e.g., high altitudes)
Describe the mechanism to restore homeostasis of blood from hypoxia
- Hypoxia occurs
- Kidney releases EPO
- EPO stimulates red bone marrow
- Increase in RBC count
- O2 carrying ability of RBC rises
What types of dietary requirement are used for erythropoiesis?
- Nutrients
- Iron
- Vitamin B12 and folic acid
What is the life span of RBCs?
100-120 days
What occurs when heme and globin are separated?
- Iron is salvaged for reuse
- Heme degraded to bilirubin
- Liver secretes bilirubin which is degraded by urobilinogen and pigment leaves body in feces as stercobilin
- Globin metabolized into amino acids
What happens to RBCs when they get old?
- Become fragile, Hb begins to degenerate
- Gets trapped in spleen
- Macrophages engulf dying RBCs in spleen
Describe the lifetime of a RBC
- Low O2 levels in blood stimulate kidneys to produce EPO
- EPO levels rise in blood
- EPO promote RBC formation in red bone marrow
- Aged and damagesd are engulfed by macrophages and secreted in feces or raw materials are recycled
What is anemia?
Blood having abnormally low O2 carrying capacity
What are the symptoms of anemia?
- Fatigue
- Pallor
- Shortness of breath
- Chills
What causes anemia?
- Blood loss
- Low RBC production
- High RBC destruction
Describe how blood loss can cause anemia?
Hemorrhaging
Describe how Low RBC production can cause anemia
- Iron deficiency
- Pernicious anemia: Autoimmune deficiency in B12
- Aplastic anemia: desctruction of red marrow
Describe how high RBC destruction can cause anemia
- Hemolytic anemia: Premature RBC lysis due to abnormal Hb
- Thalassemia: genetic deficiency of Hb
- Sickle cell anemia
What is polycythemia vera?
- Bone marrow cancer → excess RBCs
2. Severely increased blood viscosity
What is secondary polycythemia?
- Less O2 available (high altitude) or EPO production increases → higher RBC count
- Blood doping
How does sickle cells differ from normal RBCs?
- Hemoglobin S
- RBC is crescent shape where unloading O2 is low
- RBCs rupture easily and block small vessels
What causes sickle cell anemia?
Glutamate side chain is substituted with valine
What occurs when a person has 2 copies of the sickle-cell gene?
Sickle-cell anemia